Malta is still lacking centralised statistics on hospital waiting lists, six months after the Social Policy Ministry said it was working on a data gathering system for Mater Dei Hospital.
In June, The Times had revealed that, despite growing concern about the long waiting lists for different surgeries, no centralised statistics were being compiled.
The ministry had been unable to give data for different operations, saying that information was "scattered throughout the different departments", a state of affairs which hampers proper planning.
But although back then the ministry had said it was working on a single data-gathering system at Mater Dei Hospital, which would increase efficiency, the authorities have admitted that this is still not in place.
"The problem of the waiting lists has been building up over the past years and was not addressed when the hospital migrated from St Luke's to Mater Dei as no notable process re-engineering took place," a spokesman for the Parliamentary Secretariat for Health - who was forwarded questions sent by The Times to the Social Policy Ministry - said.
This is the second time the ministry seems to be pointing fingers at the previous Administration. Earlier this year, Social Policy Minister John Dalli and former Health Minister Louis Deguara crossed swords when the first described the waiting lists as "scandalous". Dr Deguara had replied that the comment was simplistic and reflected a poor knowledge of the real reasons behind the problem.
The spokesman for the Parliamentary Secretariat for Health said that the resolution of the waiting lists is not just a question of consolidating them but a matter of a general management overhaul, which should include the handling of the flow of all interventions in radiology and operating theatres and a human resources complementing exercise to determine the real need of staff at all levels so that the full capacity of the hospital is manned on a full-time basis.
The overhaul will also include a review of staff work practices, including control on attendance and a revision of job descriptions, job plans and work practices, upgrading of management and adequate IT infrastructure to monitor and control the work flow and expense flow.
The spokesman also mentioned the need of adequate financial resource allocation to be able to pay for the additional expense inherent in the backlog of the waiting lists.